This is the disturbing central conclusion of Eric Hobsbawm's analysis of recent working-class history. The present volume brings together trade-union leaders and Labour MPs, socialist writers and workplace militants to debate Hobsbawm's assessment and to explore the situation and prospects of the labour movement. So broad a range of contributors has rarely been assembled for a discussion of this kind. Their essays are remarkable for their candour and clarity, and also for the freedom with which they cross the barriers that too often separate political from industrial issues, and academic research from the many questions raised by practical struggles. Nothing more clearly reveals the depth of Britain's crisis than the strategic and organizational controversies that currently divide the political and the trade-union wings of the labour movement. The Forward March of Labour Halted? will have an immediate impact, both inside the movement and on a wider public. -- from back cover.

This book provides a novel account of the Labour Party’s years in opposition and power since 1979, examining how New Labour fought to reinvent post-war social democracy, reshaping its core political ideas. It charts Labour’s sporadic recovery from political disaster in the 1980s, successfully making the arduous journey from opposition to power with the rise (and ultimately fall) of the governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Forty years on from the 1979 debacle, Labour has found itself on the edge of oblivion once again. Defeated in 2010, it entered a further cycle of degeneration and decline. Like social democratic parties across Europe, Labour failed to identify a fresh ideological rationale in the aftermath of the great financial crisis. Drawing on a wealth of sources including interviews and unpublished papers, the book focuses on decisive points of transformational change in the party’s development raising a perennial concern of present-day debate – namely whether Labour is a party capable of transforming the ideological weather, shaping a new paradigm in British politics, or whether it is a party that should be content to govern within parameters established by its Conservative opponents. This text will be of interest to the general reader as well as scholars and students of British politics, British political party history, and the history of the British Labour Party since 1918.

Wars of Position analyses the UK left’s most public periodical under Thatcherism: Marxism Today. It connects the periodical’s political-ideological and cultural transformation via its relationship with the Communist Party, production, distribution, publicity, media relations, cultural coverage, design, and writing style.

The Survival of the Adversary Culture shows that contrary to much popular and journalistic opinion, the rejection of American society conceived during the 1960's has not substantially declined but has taken root and endured despite surface changes. These writings represent the insights and observations of an author who has long been a commentator and student of social scientitsts who have examined American institutions and social problems in comparative context.

This book provides a comparative overview and account of how the parties in Western Europe have perceived contemporary challenges of electoral dealignment and how they have responded - whether organizationally, programmatically, or institutionally.

This book, first published in 1989, addresses an issue that stood at the centre of sociological concern – the changing character of industrial societies. The authors examine the nature of the industrialization process, in terms of its impact upon and development within both state socialist and capitalist societies. Is ‘industrialism’ a constant phenomenon within both kinds of society, or are distinctive differences apparent? In the 1960s, it did seem that economic growth and technological change were producing similarities in social structure between the different socio-political systems; it now appears however that the crisis that have developed during the 1980s how illustrated their contrasts. Through the analysis of this trend in the West, in Eastern Europe and in China the authors clarify central issues for the student of sociology: The changing character of national states, organized labour, stratification systems and class relationships Processes of social integration, cohesion and control The extent to which dominant groups are able to sustain social and economic privileges in different socio-economic systems The changing pattern of work and employment relationships The nature of class, gender and ethnicity as sources of socio-economic division

`This is a really excellent book, the best on British parties that I have read in recent years. Paul Webb utilises the latest research and modern analytical techniques to provide a sophisticated study of parties and the party system which is packed with information. It is a major contribution not just to the literature on British politics but also to the comparative literature on political parties′ - David Denver, Lancaster University `Paul Webb′s new book is likely to remain the standard work on the British party system for years to come′ - Peter Mair, University of Leiden `A landmark study. I cannot commend this book too highly to teachers of British politics, students and professional analysts alike′ - Ian Budge, University of Essex `An excellent book that will be much quoted by scholars in future years′ - Alan Ware, Oxford University `Paul Webb provides the most comprehensive and well-documented analysis of the programmatic and organizational changes in the British party system. His conclusion that British parties remain critically important to the functioning of democracy is strengthened by his comparative approach. This book is a major contribution to the study of British party politics′ - Patrick Seyd, University of Sheffield Providing a complete up-to-date overview of the changing nature of contemporary party politics in Britain, this book draws on models of comparative politics and the latest empirical analysis to explain the capacity of British parties to adapt to a changing political environment. A number of broad themes include: the nature and extent of party competition; the internal life and organizational development of parties; the variety of evolving party systems in the United Kingdom; and the links between parties and the wider political system. The current weaknesses of party performance are addressed, and the scope of reform explained and examined. Contrary to claims of ′decline′, however, the book demonstrates that party politics remain essentially vibrant and intrinsic to modern British democracy. The Modern British Party System will be an essential text for all students of contemporary British politics, parties and party systems.

How History has changed in the half-century since the 1960s During the last fifty years, the writing of history underwent two massive transformations. First, powered by Marxism and other materialist sociologies, the great social history wave instated the value of social explanation. Then, responding to new theoretical debates, the cultural turn upset many of those freshly earned certainties. Each challenge was profoundly informed by politics, from issues of class, gender, and race to those of identity, empire, and the postcolonial. The resulting controversies brought historians radically changed possibilities, expanding subject matters, unfamiliar approaches, greater openness to theory and other disciplines, a new place in the public culture. History Made Conscious offers snapshots of a discipline continuously rethinking its charge. How might we understand "the social" and "the cultural" together? How do we collaborate most fruitfully across disciplines? If we take theory seriously, how does that change what historians do? How should we think differently about politics?

This is a powerful and original survey of German social democracy breaks new ground in covering the movement's full span, from its origins after the French Revolution, to the present day. Stefan Berger looks beyond narrow party political history to relate Social Democracy to other working class identities in the period and sets the German experience within its wider European context. This timely book considers both the background and long-term perspective on the current rethinking of Social Democratic ideas and values, not only in Germany but also in France, Britain and elsewhere.